Marc Guggenheim On The Flash And Green Lantern 2

Screenwriter Marc Guggemheim spoke to SciFi Now, offering updates on the highly anticipated Flash movie as well as the sequel to Green Lantern..

Follow Mark:

By Mark Cassidy - 2/3/2011

In an interview with SciFinow.co.uk, Guggemheim speaks about the upcoming Flash movie. He doesn't reveal any specific plot points, but gives us a glimpse into the motivations and mindset we can expect to see from Barry Allen when the film finally arrives. He also speaks about Green Lantern 2 and how he and fellow screenwriters Michael Goldenberg Greg Berlanti will approach the sequel. Here are some excerpts..

SciFinow: It’s been established that Michael, Greg and you are also writing The Flash. What’s the appeal of the character of Barry Allen and The Flash for you?

MG: The Flash – to me – is about pure expression. Flash is untethered to the limitations of time and space – he can be everywhere at once and with that, I think, comes a certain freedom. Who hasn’t wanted to be faster? To get someplace quicker? And because Flash does so by means of running – instead of, say, flying or teleporting – there’s an athleticism to the wish fulfillment that other superheroes don’t have. When Greg, Michael and I are talking about the character, we speak a lot in athletic terms. There’s a component of this movie that’s a lot like a sports movie, at least in terms of the language and physicality and mental toughness in what the Flash goes through.

The general audience familiar with The Flash may look at him as the superhero who runs really fast and not see much beyond that. For those people, how would you define the complexities of this character?

Well, it’s all about who the character – in this case, Barry Allen – is before he gets his powers. We spent a lot of time talking about who Barry is and, specifically, why he’s the kind of guy we want to see get these powers bestowed on him. What’s missing in his life? What problems does he have? What personal foibles? And how are all those things impacted by the ability to run fast? I don’t want to spoil the answers that we came up with, but this was very much our approach: You make running fast interesting by creating a character who is challenged and fulfilled by getting the ability to run fast.

In our minds, The Flash is in the same position Iron Man was as far as mainstream audiences: a known quantity by name, but pretty much an empty canvas beyond that. Do you agree with that?

I don’t think any superhero is an “empty canvas,” per se, because even if the mainstream audience doesn’t know about him or her, the comic book community does and you always want to honor what they love about the character. In the case of the older, Silver Age characters, the trick is to dramatise their back stories in a way that feels modern and fresh. You always want to be informed by the source material and draw inspiration from it. For example, we always try to avoid creating a new character when it’s possible to draw from the cast established by the comic.

And on Green Lantern 2..

Superhero sequels have a tendency to overload themselves with villains. Do you think that will be a challenge of Green Lantern 2, keeping Hal Jordan front and centre while still making his opponent or opponents fully fleshed out?

I think that’s the challenge of every superhero movie. But, you know, I saw someone comment online that the first Green Lantern already follows the superhero sequel pattern of having two villains instead of one – and so did Batman Begins, by the way – so I feel that we’ve already faced this challenge and overcome it with the first movie. The trick is always giving the protagonist a compelling arc and never forgetting that it’s his movie, no matter how many villains you might have.

Looking at the first Green Lantern, in your opinion what do you think Martin Campbell and Ryan Reynolds bring to the project?

They’re both perfectly suited for the movie and material. Martin understands the language of blockbuster movies in general and superheroes (Zorro, James Bond) in particular. The movie requires a director with an epic vision and the wherewithal to create an epic scope and Martin’s had both from day one – I’ve never seen him not have a very firm grasp on who Green Lantern is as a character and concept and what the movie needs to be to see that brought to life. As for Ryan… I’ve seen footage cut together and he’s probably the best fit between cast and character since Christopher Reeve and Superman. He carries this movie on his shoulders. I think Ryan’s a star of a certain caliber, but after this movie, his career will be on another level entirely.

Interesting stuff. Its a shame Guggenheim didn't have any more info on the status of the actual (pre)production of The Flash. But he has been fairly free with discussing the script so hopefully we will have something else to bring you on the project soon.

DISCLAIMER: This article was submitted by a volunteer contributor who has agreed to our code of conduct. ComicBookMovie.com is protected from liability under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) and "safe harbor" provisions. CBM will disable users who knowingly commit plagiarism, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement. Please contact us for expeditious removal of copyrighted/trademarked content. You may also learn more about our copyright and trademark policies HERE.

4

Think this article is front page worthy? Click on the "thumbs up" to the right! Popular articles will appear on the homepage automatically!

ya ya show us some more GL pics. That last one was BORING (with a capital B). Marvel is kicking your ass hype wise. I mean those last cap images rocked. What has DC given us so far? Some pics of merchandise and a pic of reynolds and hammond looking bored. Pick up the pace DC. Show us something soo epic that we'll be hyperventilating for hours

So Green Lantern has 2 villians? Hector Hammond is definately the first, but who is the second? They can't mean Parallax, can they? Parallax in this movie is just the fear entity, right? He infects Hammond, making him evil. So this is either confirmation of Krona being in it or Sinestro will turn evil by the end of it. I'm guessing that it's the latter. I've heard people who apparantly worked on the film that said Krona was definately in it. So it's probably Krona.

I hope they actually go forward with The Flash. I think Chris Pine would be good for the role...he definitely has that Flash-y appearance, in my eyes. And I mostly agree with BlackWidow, Marvel is going a lot faster when it comes to making quality comic book movies. If Green Lantern flops, the futures of such movies as The Flash, WonderWoman, and Green Arrow will possibly vanish. All that DC has out right now is movies on Batman, Superman, Jonah Hex, Watchmen, and Catwoman (the last one doesn't count much, though). Marvel, on the other hand, has done Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Punisher, Iron Man, and nearly every big-name character.

@BlackWidow We've seen waaaaaaay more than that. Have you not checked the movies website? They've got plenty of pics up there, we've seen more from this film than we have Thor or Cap, so I don't know why you said that.

well he should know he f**ked up when he jumped from Marvel character to a DC character so soon. he knew they was developing a script for Deadpool for him but he still end up doing Green Lantern. plus WB going to try hard to keep him on their side.

@Intruder

i agree, if the second trailer does not end up been epic thats it for them. all we going to get is more Batman and Superman movies.

@Comedian03 i dont think sinestro's a villian in this one and i dont want him to be hopefully if this is a hit we get a 2 and 3 then in the entire tirology i want to see the downfall of sinestro and in the first two hints of him going rogue like revealing how he controls all of korugar with fear

TheBlackWidow DC is doing the right thing because it is not about competition they R rebuilding and have gotten off to a pretty good start. In one month WB/DC made three huge announcements 1( Selina Kyle/Ann Hathaway, Bane/Tom Hardy in TDKR 2)New Superman Henry Cavill & 3)in talks with Joseph Gorden-Levitt to be in TDKR.Those 3 annoucements alone rocked the foundation of the comic book world & films period. DC is up-ing the pace they are getting real good actor and doing sumthing they do in their animated films and that is getting good voice actors. TheBlackWidow those 3 annoucements surpassed any avengers news out there and TDKR had been surpasses Avengers news. Hey I love Marvel too but lets keep it real some of their live action films have fell off. WB/DC dominates animated cartoon on DVD and on TV, on TV DC has Smallville, The Human Target, Young Justice and Later this year Green Lantern the Animated series coming out, Wonder Woman pilot on NBC & Raven in the works. Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds is going to be huge! Flash will also & a GL 2 many people want! DC is headed in the right direction, I wish both DC & Marvel the best but TheBlackWidow in the words of "Superboy" either "get on board or get out of the way" when it comes to DC Comics!

@PaulRom I thought you Marvel fanboys always say that the only movies ever put out were the Iron Man films and Incredible Hulk, hmm. @deanwilkins Yeah dude ive been saying "Mark my words it will be great" too. Take a list of all the names that are saying its gonna flop because i gaurentee you all of the people slamming it will be saying they never doubted it. @ cbegin09 what do you expect man shes just a little kid, sooner or later she'll realize to appreciate both comic companies and see that it isnt a competition.

Best of Luck to both companies this summer. But i have a strong feeling GL will be the powerhouse hit

I'm really hoping for a Flash movie. Despite it's flaws, I think the Flash series from the early 90's was one of the best super hero TV shows of all time and I can't wait to see the character brought to life again (no, the Impulse charactrer from Smallville doesn't count).

DC has had amazing films: Superman: The Movie, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Watchmen, V for Vendetta, etc. I don't think Marvel has put out "epic" movies yet. Iron Man is pretty close and The Incredible Hulk is really good. But I don't think they're up to the level of any of the DC movies I mentioned. Hopefully Cap or Thor can make it up to the list. IMO, DC > Marvel as of now.

@ intruder even so dude, when someone lists X-Men or Spiderman etc. as a Marvel movie you all get technical about it and say "well legally it isnt a Marvel movie blah,blah,blah..." when you know in fact what people mean is that they are marvel characters, hensforth 'Marvel Movies!' So yeah, Marvel as a whole has had its fair share of flops. Dude if GL looks like crap than captian america looks like shit lol. The pics for captian that have been released look nothing at all as "Amazing" as everyone is claiming it to be.Im hoping for a great movie and that I am wrong but then again i hoped Wolfman would be good too...

Let's face it, filmmakers can never please everyone. Many of us think GL looks great and will be great, then there are those who just crap on it every chance they get, predicting failure as if they've already seen the film! I'm not a big Thor or Cap fan, but I plan to see those films as well and really hope they do great for the sake of all CBM's. I admit that they need to ramp up the "Epic" factor in the next GL trailer to really sell it, but WB is a huge marketing machine. They'll step up to the plate. For the few comedic spots in the current trailer, haters seem to ignore the more dramatic moments. GL will be great, and do great, and I really hope all the upcoming CBM's do great as well.

The "team Edward" and "team Jacob" bit here is freaking hilarious. The only thing any of us here can do that speaks anything of worth is whether on not we will fork over a few bucks to see the movies - which we're going to do. The chatter is hollow. Pass the 3D glasses, popcorn, and 55 gallon drum of Pepsi. Now, let's get back to business and watch us some of the Cullen family...or whatever we were talking about.